The nude woman appeared on the porch at the Elsbeth Street home, her body severely burned and her head bleeding. Next door, an abandoned trailer was engulfed in flames.

She would tell Harris County sheriff’s deputies that “they had done this to me” before being taken Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where she was treated for lacerations and broken bones in her left hand and then was placed in a medically induced coma so specialists could tend to her burns. She is still in the coma.

This week, three people were arrested in the March 31 assault, allegedly retaliation for purportedly stealing money from one of her accused attackers.

Garrick Ian Hastings, 25, and Thomas Martin, 37, both reputed gang members, remained in Harris County Jail on Friday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. An associate, 37-year-old Anita Pena, also was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping. No bail has been set.

Boyfriend escaped

The three allegedly were involved in the abduction and beating of the 29-year-old woman in Channelview. They are accused of pulling her from a vehicle near the intersection of Normandy and Interstate 10 and taking her to the abandoned trailer where she was assaulted, according to investigators.

The victim’s boyfriend was with her in the vehicle but managed to escape, authorities said.

A resident of Elsbeth Street called the Sheriff’s Department at 5 a.m. after the victim showed up on his front porch and he saw the fire next door.

The woman, whom the Chronicle is not identifying, managed to escape before flames consumed the trailer. After reaching the neighbor’s residence she was able to give her name and date of birth. Cloth ligatures were still attached to one wrist and her neck as she told deputies what happened.

“It’s extremely heinous,” said Jason Brown, an investigator with the Sheriff’s Office.

May not survive

“She was burned over 80 percent of her body, and some of the burns are third-degree,” Brown said.

“What allowed her to escape the trailer, which was fully engulfed in fire … we’re not sure how she did that, but somehow she was able to do it.”

Because of the nature of her injuries, there is a reasonable chance she may not survive, the sheriff’s investigator said.

“The fact that she’s still alive at this point is pretty amazing,” he said. “If she does survive she has an extremely long road ahead of her in terms of recovery, probably something she will have to deal with for the rest of her life.”

Payback alleged motive

An acquaintance of Hastings told investigators that a man he knew as “Joker” — and who bears corresponding facial tattoos supporting the nickname — confided to him that he “had killed a prostitute and burned her body,” according to the arrest warrant. The attack was retaliation for the victim purportedly stealing $6,000 from Hastings, the acquaintance said.

“Joker told him he had beaten the prostitute with a metal rod, tied her up and set her on fire,” the warrant states.

The victim’s aunt told deputies that her niece lived in the Cloverleaf area with her boyfriend and Hastings, whom she claimed was a drug dealer. She also reported overhearing a recent argument between her niece and Hastings over drugs and money.

The victim has at least one conviction for prostitution, but her background played no role in the assault, Brown said.

“She was not working as a prostitute and was not engaged in prostitution” when the assault allegedly occurred, he said.

Criminal backgrounds

A witness identified Hastings through a prison photo taken at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where he served time for an aggravated robbery conviction in 2008. Both male suspects have extensive criminal backgrounds. Whether Pena was involved in the assault or in setting the fire is not yet known, Brown said. She has a criminal history that includes theft and prostitution.

Authorities would not disclose the identity of the gang with which the men reportedly are connected.
Mike Tolson contributed to this report.